Renthome.ru, a Russian marketplace for short-term rentals, raises $1m to fuel expansion

Renthome.ru, a marketplace for short-term vacation rentals across Russia and the CIS, has raised approximately $1 million in seed funding.

The names of the backers were not disclosed, only that participants in the round included ‘Russian and foreign entrepreneurs, as well as investors from the real estate market and finance sector’.

I was going to call it yet another Russian Airbnb clone (*cough* TravelRent *cough*), but it wouldn’t be totally fair since Renthome.ru appears to work directly with real estate agencies to increase the number of listed properties on its website.

Coincidentally, both Renthome.ru and TravelRent are backed by Russian Internet startup incubator Fast Lane Ventures.

The majority of the fresh capital will be used to develop a regional network – Renthome.ru plans to expand its presence to 10 additional Russian cities aside from Moscow, as well as Kiev, Ukraine.

The startup says there will be at least one regional representative of Renthome.ru operating in every city.

Currently, Renthome.ru says, its database contains nearly 17,000 active properties (including up to 2,000 European properties) which are located in over 700 Russian, CIS and European locations. It aims to grow that number to 25,000 by year’s end.